the big man, Jaybird

Getting to drive Grandpa's 4 wheeler already? Woah!

OK, here is the guy that we've known the longest. Hard to believe that in January he will be 8! Jaybird is such a typical boy in so many ways. This morning he woke me up with his robots having a battle on my bed (complete with plenty of sound effects I might add). This guy is competing all day with everyone and in everything and we often have to push the pause button for him as he only knows fast forward. Recently, Grandma taught him how to play chess and the next week at the library, he was "teaching" a 3 year old how to play and instructing him where to move so Jaybird could snatch his queen. Nice. This from a kid who is very concerned about what is fair. :)

Jaybird has been thrilled this year to get a brother and to do his part, he has been sharing his bed with Spiderman for the past 3 months. What started out as a favor has become something they both look forward to and it's fun to tuck them in at night and leave them with Jaybird reading a book to Spiderman, sweet brotherly love. But don't get too impressed - there is plenty of sibling rivalry there as well. Being the big time 2nd grader, the other kids look up to his abilities as he is an excellent reader. He learned to climb the willow tree out back and takes great pride in being the "bravest" and going the highest. Ultimately, we think he should be a designer when he grows up as his passion is building imaginative projects out of his Legos or K'nex (if I step on one more of those little pieces....).

I will leave you with a recent story that makes me realize he is growing up. Of course he has accompanied his Dad in the woods on many occassions for some sort of hunting. A couple weeks ago the guys went bow hunting together and this time Dad let him bring his small bow along(a notch up from a toy bow). After some time in the woods, Dad was about to shoot at a small doe and as he took aim, he heard a "loud" clank, clank behind him which in turn scared away the doe. As he turned to figure out what happened, Jaybird was standing there having just missed his shot at a big doe he figured Dad wasn't able to get. They came home empty handed but Dad was too amused to be upset. Of course, Jaybird did need a reminder that he isn't old enough and doesn't have a license to actually shoot at a deer yet. Just wait...